One of my favourite New Zealand vignerons, Tim and Judy Finn, from Neudorf Vineyards in Moutere, Nelson, are in Singapore to host… read more

One of my favourite New Zealand vignerons, Tim and Judy Finn, from Neudorf Vineyards in Moutere, Nelson, are in Singapore to host a wine dinner being held at the Hilton on Orchard Road.

Neudorf make beautifully crafted wines of such remarkable finesse, elegance and complexity, they are often mistaken for European wines. Indeed, I recall a function where I entertained a group of bankers by serving up wines masking their identity in brackets, the theme called “David and Goliath”, where they would chose the wine they thought the most superior. In a bracket of two chardonnay, everyone was stunned by their unanimous choice of the Neudorf Chardonnay in preference over a Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles Premier Cru at a quarter of the price moreover, everyone thinking the Neudorf was in fact the French wine, read more http://www.thewanderingpalate.com/buying-wine/can-david-slay-goliath-in-the-worlds-vineyards/

They make stunning wines right across their range, indeed it’s is impossible to single out any one variety or wine of theirs that is superior, even if they have a reputation for chardonnay and pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, riesling and pinot gris equally brilliant, even if I am rather partial to their Moutere Pinot Noir http://www.thewanderingpalate.com/buying-wine/peaks-of-celebrity/

“And there is none more elegant than Neudorf Moutere Pinot Noir, the dedicated and passionate owners Tim and Judy Finn coaxing the essence and metaphysical “pinosity” out of pinot noir; the Antipodean equivalent of Chambolle-Musigny, and currently my favorite wine of this style in the Southern Hemisphere.”

From a lost play by Eubulos, (c.405 BC - c.335 BC)
‘For sensible men I prepare only three kraters (large vase used to mix wine): one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home.

The fourth krater is not mine any more - it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness.’

The Wandering Palate - Curtis Marsh
With nearly 30 years experience in the hospitality, wine and media industries, Curtis Marsh is one of the most erudite, passionate and truly independent wine writer, commentator and presenter in Asia.

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read.

But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defence of the new.”

As uttered by the vitriolic restaurant critic Anton Ego, in the film “Ratatouille”, after his epiphany.